To improve the collection of duties and taxes relating to Cameroon's foreign trade procedures, the Single Window for Foreign Trade Operations (GUCE), in collaboration with its partners, has just equipped its electronic platform (E-Guce) with new methods of payment. The official news is that these now include wallet payments through the Gimac network (Interbank and Monetics Group of Central Africa), bank card payments (Visa, Mastercard, etc.) and payments by bank transfer. These innovations to the GUCE digital platform will be officially presented on 21 February 2023, during a launching ceremony organised in Douala, Cameroon's economic capital.

"These new digital payment channels will not only strengthen good governance, but also ensure a significant decongestion of our offices", explains an official from GUCE. In concrete terms, we learn that these new payment channels cover services such as customs duties, taxes and various levies payable to the Directorate General of Customs; duties, taxes, fees and various levies payable to the Directorate General of Taxes; port fees, import declaration fees, and various levies payable to the port authorities.

However, beyond facilitating procedures, we learn that through this optimization of its electronic platform, GUCE intends to improve the collection of foreign trade revenues by the State of Cameroon. "In eleven years, a cumulative amount of more than 7,400 billion has been collected through the e-Guce platform. In addition, according to the activity report of the Ministry of Finance, the digitalisation of payments boosted customs revenue on vehicles by 53% in 2021. That year, the Directorate General of Customs collected CFAF 201 billion in vehicle taxes, compared to CFAF 132 billion in 2020," notes another GUCE official, to show its contribution to the national system for collecting and securing public revenue, in particular, and more generally in the process of establishing a digital ecosystem in Cameroon, which has become a guarantee of competitiveness for businesses and other administrations.

As a reminder, e-Guce is operated with partners such as Afriland First Bank for bank transfers, Banque Atlantique for import taxes, BGFI Bank for bank cards, Gimac for interbanking of payment systems, and Trustpayway for the aggregation of payment means.

Source: Business in Cameroon